Andronico’s Community Markets filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday after accruing debt from lost revenue in expanding the chain to other locations.
The family-owned grocery chain listed between $10 million and $50 million in debt and around the same amount in assets, according to papers filed at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland.
The company, which operates four markets in Berkeley and single stores in Los Altos, San Anselmo and San Francisco, is negotiating a sale with Renovo Capital that will go through a due diligence period of between 60 and 90 days for the two companies to set the sale price.
As a result of the sale, consumers will experience “improvements” in the short term — including better-stocked shelves and maintenance for facilities — according to Andronico’s spokesperson Adam Alberti. The company is not currently planning to close any of its stores, and no employees will be laid off.
“The purpose of the Chapter 11 filing is to affect the sale, and the sale is required essentially because the company’s debt load is too high to continue into operations,” Alberti said.
In addition to lost revenue from expansion, an article by the San Francisco Chronicle mentioned that suppliers were not getting paid for their goods by the company. In response to the article, CEO Bill Andronico said in a May email to the Chronicle that the company would be looking to recapitalize in order to replace the its existing lending group.
At the store located at 2655 Telegraph Ave., shoppers were surprised to hear that the company had filed for bankruptcy, while mentioning that the chain often sells products at a much higher cost than other markets. Berkeley resident Debra Ratner said she normally shops at Andronico’s because of its close proximity to her house. However, she added that the expensive prices at the store “alienate” many prospective consumers.
Three East Bay locations closed between July 2004 and September 2006. Last month, a fourth location — located at Palo Alto’s Stanford Shopping Center — also closed its doors.
“I think it’s sad,” said Gracie Walovich, a UC Berkeley sophomore shopping Monday at the Telegraph location. “I don’t want it to disappear, because I actually like how convenient it is. They just closed one in Palo Alto, where I’m from, but now it’s like all making sense to me as to why they closed it.”
According to Alberti, Bill Andronico will continue as the CEO of the company, but ownership will change as a result of the bankruptcy.
“It will close one night as Andronico’s and open up as Andronico’s — it will just be a separate set of books and will be run under different ownership,” Alberti said. “The long-term goal is to improve its stores and to expand its presence and to continue to serve its customers in the Bay Area.”
Damian Ortellado of The Daily Californian contributed to this report.
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Good get Andronico’s outta here, find another co. that can give a wider, cheaper variety!
Being an employee for almost 20 years, i would say Andronico’s is a great place to work. It’s big business that closed the doors for us. With buying power that these larger companies have we offered the best price we could. Why anyone would talk bad of a family ran business is beyond me. I’m guessing that this new generation does not have respect for small business. And what it’s takes in these days to compete with stores that are in the thousands. We have 7 stores as of date.
The American public has the power to change this…..Stop shopping at the large companies and promote small business. This is the way to put money back in the pockets of the American!!!!!!!!
I’m not going to pay ridiculous prices when I’m on such a small income. It would be completely irrational.
Quality of education UC Berkeley ranked # 70 by Forebes tuition to Return on Investment drops below top 10;
QS academic ranking falls below top 10; only 50 attend Chancellor Birgeneau all employees
meeting; visits down 20%.
…and they’re keeping the same management that drove it into the ground
no suprise here
It’s too expensive for the quality of food they carry.
You got it! Once Trader Joes opened on Uni Ave, I never went back to Andronicos.
lower quality at trader joes, products mostly come from the same company outlet. so much for quality competition.
Trader Joes sources their products worldwide, sometimes from major companies and other times from small companies that are more flexible to customizing products for them.
give some factual proof on your statement, if you can.
It must be nice to have so much money that you can deliberately pay more than your have to. The rest of us have budgets and expenses.